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‘Global issue of climate change must become a domestic one’ – report says councils are in the front line of battle against global warming

Today the Audit Commission moves the battle against climate change to the home front. It shows how councils can help shrink the domestic carbon footprint.

The new national report 'Lofty Ambitions - the role of councils in reducing domestic CO2 emissions' (see www.audit-commission.gov.uk/co2embargo) proposes tackling homes - responsible for one third of England’s greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon emissions from houses could be cut far more quickly and cheaply than those from industry or transport.

Lagging, insulating, re-glazing and modernising can make homes more energy efficient. These measures would also benefit the four million people who cannot afford to heat their homes adequately – half of whom are pensioners. Living in more energy-efficient homes would improve their health and reduce inequality, the report says. Investing in emissions-reducing measures can also bring a much-needed boost to local economies.

The Chairman of the Audit Commission, Michael O’Higgins, says: ‘The global issue of climate change must now become a domestic one. There is a growing realisation that, unchecked, climate change will destroy the natural and built environments. Reducing emissions now will be far less costly than adapting our world to the consequences in the future. Cutting the power our homes consume by almost a third could come with a hefty £50 billion price tag, but this investment would be matched in only eight years as household fuel bills would tumble.’

The best councils have been good at greening homes, and have championed low carbon and renewable energy generation. They lead, oblige and subsidise social landlords and private sector homeowners to reduce domestic CO2 emissions, coordinate funding streams, and use their local knowledge to target help where it is most needed. Actions based on good quality house-by-house and street-by-street data deliver the best value for money.
But some councils say that the multiplicity of funding streams has created ‘confusion for householders and duplication of effort’ when energy suppliers and others approach the same households with competing offers.

Lofty Ambitions also brands the government’s £2.7 billion a year winter fuel payments as a missed opportunity to both help keep people warm and to reduce CO2. The current system pays out to all older people despite three quarters of recipients not being classified as fuel poor, and provides no incentives to reduce CO2 emissions. The report says the payments fail to focus on those in the greatest need and do not provide a long-term solution – spending on heating today rather than reducing the need to heat in the future.

Under the Climate Change Act – the first of its kind in the world - we are legally bound to slash UK greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent of their 1990 level by 2050. The report calls on government to re-think winter fuel payments, and to check whether the voluntary approach to local targets for CO2 reduction can deliver the progress needed to meet national targets.

Michael O’Higgins adds: ‘A one-off improvement in energy efficiency would cut household bills, giving householders lasting independence. Good for the planet and for their pockets. Surely this would be much better than pensioners needing continual government support to keep draughty houses warm every winter.’

‘We need to cut greenhouse gas emissions. To do that we need to change the way we produce energy and cut how much we use. As we do that, we can cut household fuel bills and improve the lives of millions of people. All this will be achieved better and faster with the encouragement and support of our local elected representatives. Lofty Ambitions shows that councils are so often the catalyst, and that communities can look to them and to government to give a decisive lead in checking climate change.’